"Dammit!"
Irving cursed as his throat was brutally torn apart. The excruciating pain enveloped his whole body before his vision plunged into darkness.
[You have been killed by the "Butcher".]
[You have exited the game!]
"..."
When Irving opened his eyes again, a layer of cold sweat coated his forehead. He subconsciously touched his throat. The feeling of having his throat crushed was far too realistic.
Pulling back the curtain, he saw it was already dark outside. The time was a little past eight in the evening.
The time in the game and in reality were synchronized.
Irving first took a cold shower. The feeling of death had left him with lingering fear.
I opened my phone and ordered a takeout, but found that there were 32 unread messages.
Upon opening them, he found that all of them were sent by Alice.
"Babe, what're you up to?"
"Do you miss me? Have you eaten yet?"
"Why aren't you replying to my messages?"
"I just finished work. Would you like to invite me out to dinner tonight?"
...
"Bitch!"
Had this been before, when seeing Alice's messages, Irving's heart would have been filled with a sense of happiness.
However, at this moment, not only was his heart unmoved, his eyes were filled with disgust.
He had long seen through this bitch's true colors.
Irving frowned, closed his phone, and decided to ignore Alice for now.
His death in the game was still bothering him. He had been killed before he even got a good look at the monster's face...
In the game, if a player dies, they can only reenter the game the next day.
"Damn it." Irving muttered to himself, starting to ponder.
Since the game had started its beta testing, aside from him, there should be a small number of people who had also gotten the chance to enter the alternate world.
"I wonder if there's a forum or something?" With this thought, Irving opened his computer and entered keywords in the search bar: Alternate World, Darkness, Pigman, Sanctuary...
A forum called "Strange World" caught his attention.
Irving entered the forum, which was styled in a dark theme with black backgrounds and all text in neon green, resembling the work screen of a programmer.
Given that this alternate world, formed by the will of the Blue Star, had only recently been opened, the forum was understandably simplistic.
It was divided into three sections:
Discussion.
Help.
Trading.
However, to access these sections, registration was required first.
"This strict?" Irving was surprised. When he followed the prompts to the registration page, he found that it required real-name registration, including sensitive personal information like home address.
"What the hell? What if my personal information leaks?"
As Irving hesitated on the registration page, a pop-up appeared: "Players who have obtained the beta test qualifications for the alternate world, please register with confidence. This forum is officially set up. All player personal data will be uploaded to a secure repository. So there is no risk of leakage..."
Official?
"They've caught on to the existence of an alternate world this quickly?"
Irving was surprised, but quickly understood why official registration was necessary...
The alternate world was connected to reality, and all items and abilities could be brought into the real world!
This was like a double-edged sword, and the official insistence on real-name registration was, on a deeper level, for the sake of social stability.
"Anyway, I haven't committed any crimes or done anything shameful," Irving said to himself.
He then proceeded to register an account on the forum under his real name.
First, he entered the Discussion area.
There were already quite a few posts:
"Help! The Pigmen are too damn terrifying!I died as soon as I came up, I couldn't fight at all!"
"What exactly is the Will of the Blue Star? Those who know, come discuss in-depth!"
"So annoying! This game is too hard. I died once and it was too horrific. I'm scared to enter the game again..."
"Looking for a team. Is there a guild?"
"Holy shit! I actually awakened the Warrior talent, and got a profession right away..."
Irving couldn't help but smirk as he read these posts.
"Pigmen difficult?"
"I've been slaughtering them just fine..."
"Weak! Just need more practice!"
"Awakened a profession? What the hell is there to use. I awakened tenfold loot drop rate!"
A sense of superiority unexpectedly surged within him, though Irving remained clear-headed.
A tenfold loot drop rate talent was godlike in any game, almost like cheating.
At any time, he cannot reveal this talent, otherwise it will inevitably lead to unnecessary trouble.
He scrolled further down the posts, only to realize that no player had yet reached that altar... "Seems like getting information on that monster is unlikely."
Irving felt a bit disappointed.
He then opened the Trading section.
"For Sale: Stone*100, note (all these materials were hard-earned in one day, nearly got killed by Pigmen.) Price: $2000!"
"For Sale: Pigmen Bones*10, Price: $10,000!"
"Sale: Shelter Wooden Bed..."
Compared to the bustling discussion board, the trading section was sparse with posts.
Someone had even sold the wooden bed that came with the shelter, just to exchange it for some real-world cash.
"People can make money off this?" Irving chuckled.
But he quickly understood. This game was new, with only a few having access to the beta. Even basic materials could be traded for cash.
It was typical of any game's early days.
Then, a thought struck him, and his smile broadened. His character's trait of a tenfold loot drop rate was like a treasure trove.
With a mere thought, he re-entered the game.
Since his character was dead, the game interface was black. But he could still access the storage box to check his materials...
[Pigman Bones *320]
[Stones *224, Wood *182...]
[Shattered Rubies *10]
A system prompt sounded.
[10 shattered rubies can be combined into 1 ruby. Would you like to combine them now? ]
"Yes!"
[A notification chimed.]
[Successfully combined!]
[Ruby *1...]
Looking at the ruby, now gleaming brilliantly, Irving hesitated.
He had previously set a shattered ruby in his iron sword, gaining a 0.1% critical hit rate.
But this full ruby would increase it tenfold!
But even so, that was just a mere 1%...
That is to say, to defeat the unknown monster at the altar, he'd have to die a hundred times just to land a successful critical hit.
"Forget it. It's too much hassle. It's all about who's luckier. I don't have the time to gamble!" Irving declared.
With the apocalypse a month away, dying once a day, it would take a hundred days to overcome.
Without hesitation, he posted the newly combined ruby and the pigman bones in the trading section.
[Pigman Bones *320 (Note: Can be used to upgrade weapon quality) Price: $100,000.]
The post has just been posted and immediately attracted many comments below:
"Holy shit! Who's this boss? The game just started and he's got all these pigman materials!"
"It averages out to one bone per five pigmen. Did this guy slaughter a whole village?"
"Such a steal! 320 pigman bones for only $100,000..."
"Damn! You're disrupting the market, I don't believe you've collected that many materials."
"This guy must be a scammer!"
Seeing this comment, Irving's smile grew even brighter. The person complaining was obviously another seller in the trading section who dared to ask for $10,000 for just 10 bones, while he had 320 bones priced at only $100,000.
This clearly means taking other's job.
No.
To be precise, it means directly destroying the other person's livelihood!
Irving couldn't be bothered to argue with such pettiness and posted another listing.
[For Sale: Refined Ruby *1, price negotiable (preferably exchanged for equivalent items or crafting materials.)]
Irving had his plans.
Exchange for money?
With the apocalypse arriving in a month, money would be as good as trash paper—too rough even for toilet use.
The money would only be useful for a month.
For him, the most important thing now was to find a way to defeat the monster at the altar...
Just after Irving finished posting these two trading posts, the entire forum exploded.
Many netizens are discussing this user nicknamed "Lucky Little White Face".
Rat-tat!
Rat-a-tat!
As Irving was monitoring the forum for trade updates, someone suddenly knocked on his door.